Newbie Guide and FAQ
Sacred Seasons official website This guide has become my pet project, and I've made substantial updates to it. As I have spent substantial time aiding beginning players in Sacred Seasons, I have a fair idea of what belongs here. However, I have undoubtedly forgot or perhaps am simply unaware of some important topics. Please contact we with any requests or suggestions. I tend to frequent chat room 2 on Kongregate. - HoopleDoople, same Kongregate and in-game name. The original primary contributor is Imyourwerewolf (in-game name: IYWerewolf, Kongregate: ImYourWerewolf). He is another potential contact regarding this guide, he claims to frequent chat room 1. = Basic Game Info = Official game guide A nice place to start for complete beginners. = Earning Gold = Note: You cannot trade silver for gold. Note: Gold is a source of revenue for the game's developer. You can get it 4 ways: Complete certain quests and or arenas. Some arena quests reset weekly. Complete "free offers" accessed through the game. Some offers aren't actually free (the gold is an added bonus to a purchase), most require personal information, and a few even may try to get you to download software that includes viruses/trojans/malware. BEWARE! Multiple offers may be from the same advertiser - you can only earn gold from one offer per advertiser (and said offer is non-repeatable. Not all offers pay out immediately; go to the "offer status" tab to see how long it might take. If after this time the offer has still not payed out you may file a request from the "offer status" page, though there is no guarantee they'll accept your request. Complete tasks, accessed from the free offers page. These tasks are not available most of the time, but when they are the tasks may be repeated as much as you wish. The only way to truly grind gold. Purchase it. = Choosing a Starting Class = :This section is subject to change frequently with updates and should kept be as accurate as possible As mentioned in the game guide, you can change your class at anytime without consequence. You keep all your items, gold , silver , quests, experience of all of your classes and even dungeon progress, so don't worry about messing up... You can't. What is good for others might not be best choice for you - the best way to choose your class is to try out many of them and use the one you liked the most. Sacred Seasons is built as a team game, with a good amount of emphasis on teamwork at higher levels to make quests easier and more manageable. The classes are balanced in a manner that each have their own pros and cons. It is more fun to choose something you like than choose something others say is good, as ultimately, you are the one playing the game, and not others. Spring Charmer - Charmers are a party oriented class, as they have good healing and some buffs. They come with a moderately fast timer and the highest luck growth (for lots of criticals). Charmers are one of the few classes that develop both attack and magic, allowing you to attack an enemy's weakness. However, Charmers have the lowest HP in the game and don't have very high damage. Evergreen Soldier - Evergreen Soldiers have high health and good damage, but low resistance and only weak heals. They have some decent single target damage skills. An easy class to play for beginners, but the higher your Evergreen Soldier gets the more he needs support from other classes. Scout - Scouts are noteworthy for having the fastest timer and having a powerful level 150 skill, which allows the entire team's timer to instantly recover after attacks (for a limited duration). Scouts don't deal very high damage and get hit hard by enemies, though they do dodge attacks more than any other class. Due to their fragility, lack of heals,and their eventual group attack rate buff, Scouts belong in a group. Shaman - Shamans have a fast timer and good healing, but are most notable for their Area of Effect spells. Nature's Judgement 2 allows the Shaman to level from 57 to 100 faster than any other class. The downside to Shamans is that they have very low defense and their attacks are somewhat weak. Summer Desert Bandit - One word defines the Desert Bandit: luck. He has a decent luck growth rate, skills to boost luck, and skills that rely on chance. He has a cheap full heal and full group heal, though they have only a 50% chance of success. Desert Bandits are deal fairly good damage and have more reliable (albeit weaker) heals. Watch out for magic attacks (as the Desert Bandit has very poor resistance) and runs of bad luck. Hypnotist - The Hypnotist is notably the only class that develops good defense AND resistance. As such it takes less damage than any other class. The Hypnotist also packs great defense buff skills, a fast timer, and decent healing. The Hypnotist doesn't hit very hard though, and for some odd reason is not the one class with the ability to put enemies to sleep. Pathfinder - Though fast and good at dodging, Pathfinders deal modest damage and get hit quite hard. Their repertoire of skills below level 50 isn't terribly impressive, but at and above 50 they gain access to good heals (including a group heal), a good attack rate buff, and eventually an AoE skill. Pathfinders become a versatile and powerful class at high levels, though their fragility never really disappears. Sun witch - Sun Witches are slow but hard hitting magic attackers. They have decent healing which can be used quite frequently, as Sun Witches have the highest SP in the game. Sun Witches come with a few debuffs, good resist, and some nice magic buffs as well. Sun Witches suffer from low health and defense, however, so you'll be needing those heals. Fall Clown - Clowns are uncommon in appearance, meaning they look rather, well, unique and are one of the least played classes. Clowns develop both attack and magic well, giving them versatility in weapon choice. They have good slowing skills and the most powerful poison skills in the game. However, they have poor defense AND resistance, yet lack healing. Their poison is also not useful in a lot of situations. Harvest Soldier - A slow class but with good attacks, HP, and healing. They do have an attack rate buff which can help with their timer and eventually get a great group defense buff. Harvest Soldiers are lacking in resistance. *SPOILER ALERT* - Harvest Soldiers are female. Savage - Very fast and decently hard hitting makes the Savage rather unique. Of course Savages are somewhat fragile (they'res especially vulnerable to magic attacks), but they do come with heals. Savages get a very good attack rate buff and AoE attack at high levels. Thaumaturgist - One of the slowest classes in the game, but the Thaumaturgist has very high magic and thus packs quite a punch. Though his healing is marginal he does pack both defense and resist buffs. The Thaumaturgist also has the second highest luck growth and is the only class with an ability that can put enemies to sleep (much to the chagrin of Hypnotists everywhere). Don't expect your Thaumaturgist to dodge many attacks. Winter Arctic Soldier - Arctic Soldiers are the prototypical warriors of Sacred Seasons, packing exceptionally powerful attacks, high health, and high defense. He also suffers from the slowest timer, poor resistance, the lowest SP, and no heals. He can slow his enemies down and eventually gets an exceptional group attack buff. Clairvoyant - The Clairvoyant is a class that starts weak but gets much more powerful later on. Her signature skill, Astral Travel III, causes a single target's timer to instantly refill after attacking (for a limited duration). She also has exceptional resist, a group resist buff, and decent healing. She suffers from a slow timer, poor defense, and marginal skills at lower levels. Medicine Man - The Medicine Man has the most powerful heals in the game, just don't expect to get them until later in the game; the Medicine Man has very poor heals (almost to the point of worthlessness) until level 43. The Medicine Man also is one of the few classes to develop both attack and magic. He has decent resist, a group resist buff, attack rate buffs, and slowing skills. The Medicine Man suffers from marginal defense and the lowest luck in the game. Snow Bandit - Snow Bandits have a decently fast timer and moderately powerful attacks. They are notable for their AoE attacks, though their AoE is only useful at low and high levels. Snow Bandits are get hit hard by enemies, but dodge well, can slow enemies, and have limited healing abilities. Snow Bandits are one of the most versatile and popular classes in the game. = FAQ = What's the best class? Imyourwerewolf: :In my opinion there isn't one but there are definitely classes that are easier to play. The most frequently agreed upon by the community seems to be Evergreen Soldier, Scout, Desert Bandit, Hypnotist, Pathfinder, Savage, Arctic Soldier, and Snow Bandit... The most frequently avoided are currently most the caster classes because they are gimped by slow battle timers and bad defense without a real boost in damage, making them punching bags. Any class can be played... Some just won't be played as well :3 A safe plan is to not choose a class with a slow battle meter unless the tradeoff they give for it makes you happy enough to be killing much slower then other classes. Arctic Soldier is the only example of a slow class that's used a bit more than average. Kaseijin: :Being able to heal yourself and your team is another factor you should take into account. Unless a monster kills in one or two hits a healer effectively multiplies amount of damage players can hold and save unlucky party members from death. AoE attacks are also useful, since they allow to level up much faster. AnathemMire: :A word, as ever, for my beloved Clairvoyants: even though they have among the worst battle meters in the game, the eventual mass of Magic stat, in my opinion, definitely makes up for it. Regardless of the concept of a "best" class, each class has its ups and downs. However, Imyourwerewolf's suggestions are wonderful for newbies/early training. HoopleDoople: : Understand that classes shift in power relative to one another depending on level and gear. For example, a Pathfinder is somewhat weak and very fragile at low levels and/or without gear. Yet the consensus among some of the top players is that the Pathfinder is the most powerful class at high levels (i.e. 300+) when assuming use of top gear. Now the vast majority of players are not going to reach level 300, so the Pathfinder is likely not the "best" class for them. If you are only planning to play to level 50 (say for the Kongregate badges) any class will work out just fine for you, though you may wish to avoid classes that peak late (Pathfinder, Medicine Man, Clairvoyant, Scout). If you're in for the long haul the Pathfinder, Clairvoyant, Harvest Soldier, and Hypnotist are considered great choices; the Clown and Evergreen Soldier are considered poor choices : : A few things to remember: in the scheme of things, class choice is secondary to level and quality of equipment. Someone 50 levels higher than you or with the best items for his level (when you lack them) will be way better than you regardless of your classes. And also never forget this is a game - you're supposed to have fun. If you have the most fun playing a Clown or you want to play an Evergreen Sodlier for role-playing purposes then they are your best choice, regardless of their power relative to other classes How do I heal? The best methods of healing are healing skills and clearing a dungeon. Clearing a dungeon fully restores HP and SP (see terminology if you do not know what this means). Dying also heals you fully, though you get sent back to town. When you level your character is fully healed. You may also use items to heal, though this is usually the least preferable method (it becomes a better choice in arenas). Does speed buff attack speed? Your attack speed is independent of your speed stat. The speed stat affects your ability to block or resist attacks from monsters slightly. Your attack speed affects the rate you attack. What weapons can my class use? Any class can use any weapon, with the exception of a few high level class-specific weapons. Of course not every weapon is a good choice for your class - see the weapon basics section below for more on this. Can you sell items? No, you may not sell any items, weapons, armor, or hats; regardless of whether you bought them from the Town Store, bought them from the World Store, or earned them through quests. How do you get to the Underworld? Gain access to the Underworld by completing the quest Pay the Tab. The Underworld entrance is found by traveling 6 east, 1 north, 1 east from Bellroot entrance. How do you get out of the Underworld? Initially there is no exit from the Underworld; you must unlock it by completing the quest The Demon Pirate. Prior to unlocking the exit your two options of escape are teleporting and (ironically) dying. How do you get to the Plagued Grounds? Complete all Underworld quests with the exception of Underworld Invasion (the arena) to open the Plagued Grounds. The Plagued Grounds entrance is found by traveling 1 north and 1 east from Coldwoods entrance. = Class Gender = The sprites and pictures of some classes are rather ambiguous as to gender. This can be an issue as gender does have a small but real effect in this game: all armor (except the class specific ones) can be used by all of one gender or the other (though the same piece of armor may have a version for each gender). So if you purchase Emerald Armor for your Arctic Soldier you may be surprised to discover that the Snow Bandit can't use it as the Snow Bandit is female (or vice versa). Male Classes Spring - '''Evergreen Soldier, Scout '''Summer - '''Desert Bandit, Hypnotist '''Fall - '''Clown, Thaumaturgist '''Winter - '''Arctic Soldier, Medicine Man Female Classes '''Spring - '''Charmer, Shaman '''Summer - '''Pathfinder, Sun Witch '''Fall - '''Harvest Soldier, Savage '''Winter - '''Clairvoyant, Snow Bandit = Terminology = There are many abbreviations and acronyms frequently used that may not be immediately clear to new players. Area Terminology '''BR - Bellroot BW - ' Bleakwoods '''CW ' - Coldwoods '''DF - Deadfields PG - ''' Plagued Grounds '''SV - '''Summerville '''Town - '''Shikaakwa, the only town '''UW - Underworld WH - 'West Hills Arena Terminology '''BRA - ' Bellroot Arena (Badgers and Spiders and Bears, oh my) '''BWA - '''Bleakwoods Arena (Chilling Treasure) '''CWA, BI2 - Coldwoods Arena (Bear Invasion 2) FF, WHA - '''West Hills Arena (Fatal Fortress) '''SVA - Summerville Arena (A Hero is Born) UWA, UWI - 'Underworld Arena (Underworld Invasion!) Class Terminology '''AS - '''Arctic Soldier '''Clair ' - Clairvoyant 'DB - '''Desert Bandit '''ES, EGS - '''Evergreen Soldier '''HS - '''Harvest Soldier '''Hypno - '''Hypnotist '''MM, Medi Man - '''Medicine Man '''PF, Pathy - '''Pathfinder '''Sav - '''Savage '''SB - '''Snow Bandit '''SW ' - Sun Witch '''Thaum - '''Thaumaturgist General Terminology '''Alt - Alternate character. As players may switch classes at any time without penalty, it is common for players to have a second (or third, fourth, etc), weaker class that they sometimes use. Sometimes players raise alternate characters with the intention of eventually making it their new main character Anchor - An anchor is a player who remains out of battle (at least until the enemies have been sufficiently weakened), preventing the dungeon from reseting should all other players die, as well as allowing other players to quickly teleport back into the same dungeon should they die. AoE - 'Area of Effect, skills that hit all enemies (allies if used in reference to buffs and heals) '''Arena - ' An arena is typically (though not universally) seven floors consisting of seven rooms. They emphasize endurance and once someone enters arena proper (beyond the lobby) no one may teleport to them until they leave. The entire arena must be cleared before HP and SP are restored. 'Battle - '''Arenas and Dungeons contain one or more battles. Once all monsters in the battle are defeated experience and silver are awarded (rather than piecemeal as each monster is killed). Weak players (or alternate characters) may take advantage of this by joining late in the battle (or only entering when the monsters are 1 hit from death). '''BI - '''Bear Invasion. A difficult quest that yields nice rewards (100,000 experience, 100 gold, and a weapon - the Bear Claw Lance). '''Buffs - ' Benefical skills that boost the stats or attack rate of one or more allied players '''Class Armor, 133, 133 Armor - The class specific armor(s) available in the world store; they have a required level of 133. Class Weapon, 125, 125 Weapon - '''The class specific weapon(s) available in the world store; they have a required level of 125. '''Debuffs - '''Detrimental skills that lower the stats or attack rate of one or more enemy monsters '''Ding - '''The "sound" of a player leveling. Players often announce this to the group/chat upon leveling. '''Dungeon - When walking around you encounter red portals that take you into new rooms or buildings. These rooms are known as dungeons, and consist of one or more battles (red portals with the word "battle" below them). Clearing all battles in a dungeon results in HP and SP being recovered (only if you are in the last battle when it ends). Grinding - Repeatedly clearing a particular dungeon or arena in order to quickly gain experience and/or silver. Guild - '''A group of players who have voluntarily affiliated themselves with each other. Being in a guild provides no bonus other than the ability to chat with your entire guild (through the /g command), though your guildmates will be more likely to help you than random strangers. You can only be in one guild at a time, and may choose to leave a guild at any time. '''Gz, grats, gratz, cg - '''Short for congratulations. Usually the response to another player's "ding". '''IGN - In-game name. If you are playing on Kongregate your Sacred Seasons name may be different. As Sacred Seasons commands are case sensitive, make sure you use the appropriate caps when telling another player your in-game name. Leech - ''' A player who participates in battles too difficult for their character to make any significant contribution. This results in them "stealing" rather than "earning" the experience and silver. Nice players may rarely let others leech, most players will not, and a few will be furious if you attempt to leech them. '''Lv Lvl - '''Level. '''HP - '''Hitpoints, health. '''Items, Pots, Whispers, Roars - You can purchase various items that restore HP or SP from the town or world store. The most commonly referred to are whispers (recover very little but the only restorative items that cost silver) and roars (give a full restore but must be obtained from quests or with gold). Main - Main character. A player's highest level or at least most frequently used class. Port, Tele, Teleport - ' To teleport is to warp to a friend's location. This is done by first adding the player you wish to telport to (if necessary), bringing up your friends list, and selecting the "go to" option for the appropiate friend. Teleportation will bring you to your friend's server if you aren't already in it. You cannot teleport to players in the Underworld or Plagued Grounds unless you enter the corresponding area first. You may not teleport into arenas with the exception of the lobby. You can, however, teleport out of these areas as normal. '''SP -' Spellpoints, mana. = Weapon Basics and Progression = Damage in this game can come from either your attack or magic stat (attack or magic alone does not determine damage, level is also very important and speed and skill play minor roles). If you equip a weapon that gives attack (or use your fists) attack is used; if you equip a weapon that gives magic the magic stat is used. So if your character has higher attack use weapons that give attack and if your character has higher magic use weapons that give magic. A few classes (Clown, Medicine Man, Charmer) grow both attack and magic at a near equal rate. To determine whether to use attack or magic weapons first examine the weapons available to you. If one has much higher attack/magic bonus than any other weapon use that one. If the top attack and top magic weapons give you a similar amount, examine the defense and resistance of the monsters you are fighting. If they overall have lower defense use the attack weapon (defense lowers damage from attack); if they overall have lower resistance use the magic weapon (resist lowers damage from magic). Now the most important stat a weapon gives is usually attack or magic, as this increases damage. Higher damage allows you to kill monsters quicker, earning you experience and silver faster in addition to decreasing the number of turns the enemy alive to hit you. Only use a weapon with lower attack/magic if the loss of damage does not affect the number of hits needed to kill the enemies you are fighting. For example, if your damage would go from 800 to 600 against 1300 HP enemies stick with the weapon that has higher attack/magic. If your damage were to go from 800 to 700 against the same enemies the weapon with lower attack but better additional stat bonuses would be a fine choice. Please note that the level 143+ World Store Weapons offer such large stat bonuses that the rule of attack being most important does not necessarily hold true. When you reach a level high enough to use these you should know what stats are most important to you; make your choice accordingly. Because silver is not easily obtainable until you can handle the Underworld and many weapons are quite expensive, it is best to limit yourself to the ones with the highest attack or magic for a given level unless you have plenty of silver. Attack Weapon Progression This list only includes weapons that can be obtained without spending gold. Unless you have plenty of gold or plan on quitting before level 150, save your gold for the best available World Store weapons (currently the level 143+ ones). For most weapons only attack is listed, though they do give other stat bonuses. Check the weapons page for more information. ''Level 1: ''Seroline Sabre' -' ' 10 attack (complete Yoriks Plea). ''Level 16: 'Silver Longbow' - 24 attack (available in the Town Store for 16,000 silver). Level 33: 'Sword of Thorns' - 35 attack (complete Heart of Thorns). Level 47: 'Sirius Battle Axe - '''40 attack (available in the Town Store for 29,000 silver). ''Level 81:' Royal Archers '- 52 attack (available in the Town Store for 175,000 silver). Level 120: 'Black Widow Bayonet '- 62 attack (available in the Town Store for 1,300,000 silver). Level 155: 'Life Axe '''75 attack (available in the Town Store for 3,200,000 silver). Also gives 45 luck and 39 resist. ''Level 156: 'Falcon Sword '- 73 attack (available in the Town Store for 3,000,000 silver). Also gives 45 speed and 39 defense. NOTE: While the Falcon Sword has 2 less attack than the Life Axe, this is not very significant at this level. Choose which one to use based on which of the other stat bonuses you prefer. Once you can afford it purchase both and switch them as necessary. Magic Weapon Progression This list only includes weapons that can be obtained without spending gold. Unless you have plenty of gold or plan on quitting before level 150, save your gold for the best available World Store weapons (currently the level 143+ ones). For most weapons only magic is listed, though they do give other stat bonuses. Check the weapons page for more information. Level 1: 'Strange Warhammer' - 8 magic (complete A Strange Challenge). Level 20: Kolenyas War Staff '''- 30 magic (complete Into the Fire). ''Level 48: ''Tsunami' - 38 magic (available in the Town Store for 30,000 silver). ''Level 72: 'Birds Gaze' - 53 magic (available in the Town Store for 100,000 silver). Level 120: 'Emerald Essence' - 64 magic (available in the Town Store for 1,500,000 silver). Level 153: 'Stone Book' - 75 magic (available in the Town Store for 3,300,000 silver). Also gives 45 speed and 39 defense. Level 154: Sun Book - 75 magic (available in the Town Store for 3,000,000 silver). Also gives 45 skill and 39 resist. NOTE: As the Stone Book and Sun Book have the same amount of magic, choose which one to use based on which of the other stat bonuses you prefer. Once you can afford it purchase both and switch them as necessary. = Reducing Lag = Sacred Seasons seems to be prone to lag. And lag does negatively affect you - your timer fills slower resulting in slower grinding and possibly more hits from enemy monsters per attack of yours. There are a few steps you can take to reduce lag: 1) Allow flash to store unlimited information on your computer. Right click, select settings, select the folder icon, and move the scroll bar all the way right. 2) Lower the graphics quality. Right click and change quality to medium or low. 3) Avoid highly populated servers. Lots of players running around the same screen as you increases lag. 4) Periodically clear your cache and refresh your browser. If you've been playing for a couple hours lag tends to build up. To clear your cache in Firefox go to Tools -> Clear Private Data. Make sure cachce is selected and then clear private data. Close your browser, reopen it, and reload Sacred Seasons. 5) Close other windows or tabs, or at least the actively loading ones. = Glitches = There are a few glitches to be aware of in this game - the most important ones relates to healing and can result in you dying even though you appear to have health left. There are two damage/healing/health values listed that are important to pay attention to. The damage/healing that appears over a player/monster's head (or the health bar) are the visual numbers, the values displayed in the text to the lower right are the text numbers. Sometimes these numbers disagree - obviously only one is correct. Healing Glitches *If you are hit just before you heal the text in the lower right may incorrectly display an amount equal to the heal minus the damage received (this can even be negative). The visual from your heal should still display the proper amount. *If you are hit immediately after healing the visual of your heal will display a number equal to the actual heal plus the amount of damage received. The text in the lower right will list the proper heal value. This is the most dangerous glitch - if you get multiple times or very hard right before healing you could appear to have full health but actually be on the brink of death. The next battle you enter your health will be properly displayed. *If after the above glitch (and in the same) you heal yourself your health will appear properly again. However, the text box will record your heal as being the difference between the glitched health and your correct health post-heal. This can result in heals listed as healing for negative health. Other Glitches *Damage actually occurs when it is listed in the text to the lower right; the animation of the attack and visual numbers may take a while to appear. If you attack a second enemy before the damage appears visually on the first, the damage from your first hit will appear visually on the new target. It is still actually done to the correct, original enemy. This results in dead monsters not showing a death animation and live monsters that appear to be weakened more than they actually are (they may even appear to have 0 HP while still alive). This glitch happens when weapons that have slow attack animations (notably bows and bombs) and/or attack rate buffs (notably Astral Travel III and Rabbit Speed) are used. *If two players try to perform an action on an enemy at the same exact time and the enemy dies from one of the actions, the other player's action is not performed. The player whose action is not performed cannot perform any action for several seconds until they get a message informing them that the server "did not respond to the previous action". *'You can purchase weapons from the town store that you already own'. This is likely true with World Store weapons, armor, and hats as well, though this has not been tested (nor would I recommend anyone waste their gold trying it). While you can always grind more silver, it can be a lengthy process. Save yourself some grief and check that you don't already have a weapon before purchasing it. *If two damaging skills are used on the same enemy by different players in quick succession, the enemy appears to be healed by the second skill. Further testing is needed to determine the specifics of this glitch. *If you die in PvP or Guild vs Guild you respawn with only half HP and SP. This is likely an unintentional holdover from when all deaths resulted in this. Category:Guides